LASTHENIA DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY LASTHENIA, the Newsletter of the Davis Botanical Society, is published by the Society in collaboration with the staff of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory and Center for SAVE A TREE! SAVE A STAMP! Diversity. USE E-MAIL! OFFICERS President: Deborah Canington President-elect: Jim Doyle To reduce the volume and cost of mailings for specific Membership Vice President: Bill DBS events and classes, we’d like to establish an e-mail McCoy list for members interested in receiving news Secretary: Jennifer Petersen electronically. Lasthenia and renewal notices would Treasurer: Robert Rhode continue to be sent to all members in paper copy. Past President: Ernesto Sandoval Members at Large: Eva Bayon, Don Crosby If we can serve you this way, please give us your email Student Member at Large: Shannon address on your membership renewal form or send a Still message to the Membership Vice President, Bill McCoy, Ex officio: Dan Potter, Tim Metcalf, Ellen Dean, Jean Shepard, Kate at [email protected]. Mawdsley, Allison Chilcott Contributors: K. Mawdsley, E. Dean, T. Metcalf, D. Crosby, D. Potter Design: Susan Gloystein Cotterel

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8 No. 27 Fall 2006 LASTHENIA

NEWSLETTER OF THE DAVIS BOTANICAL SOCIETY

REMEMBERING GRADY WEBSTER

A massive and completely unexpected the University of Texas, he completed a stroke took Grady Webster from his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan. He family and friends and from his then spent four years at Harvard on one eminent position in systematic botany of the first NSF post-doctoral in late October 2005, almost a year ago. fellowships. At Harvard he was a Extensive tributes to his contributions member of the prestigious Society of to science and public service have Fellows. After eight years at Purdue, appeared in scholarly publications. Grady came to Davis in 1966 to direct Here in the herbarium of the Center the Arboretum, and remained as for Plant Diversity, his absence is a professor in the Botany Department, more personal, recurrent sense of loss, succeeding John Tucker as director of as his daily presence was for so many the Tucker Herbarium in 1986. He years an integral part of normal retired in 1993. operations. For that reason, we have His major teaching activities were in gathered a series of anecdotes and systematics, biogeography and reminiscences to remember the man we pollination ecology, and in the knew. supervision of approximately 20 Born in Oklahoma in 1927, Grady doctoral students. He conducted major Grady in the Tucker Herbarium in grew up near Austin, Texas and became research expeditions to Mexico, the Robbins Hall in 1995. Photo E. Dean interested in in high school. Caribbean islands, Central and South After a bachelor’s degree in botany at America, Hawaii, Australasia, Pakistan, Africa and Europe, collecting more than 34,000 plant specimens that are deposited at the Center for Plant DIRECTOR’S CORNER: Diversity herbarium and at major herbaria around the world. His awards MAJOR ORGANIZATIONAL, STAFFING and achievements included NSF, CHANGES IN THE CENTER FOR Guggenheim, Smithsonian and PLANT DIVERSITY Rackham fellowships; the Engler Medal from the International Association for [Ed. Note: A column of news from the directors of the Center for Plant Plant ; the Merit Award from Diversity and Botanical Conservatory usually appears on page 2 of continued on page 4 Lasthenia. Dan Potter’s report about the Center for Plant Diversity, however, commands front page attention.] IN THIS ISSUE This has been a year of transitions in the Center for Plant Diversity (Herbarium). There has been loss and sadness, but there have also been Remembering Grady Webster ...... 1 some exciting new developments. Organizational Changes ...... 1 Last summer, Dr. Ellen Dean stepped down as Director and Curator of the Center for Plant Diversity, after ten years of outstanding service in Society Profiles ...... 3 that position, to take a job as a consultant in the Sacramento office of Student Grants ...... 5 EDAW. This was a great loss to the campus, but Ellen felt it was time to Notable Botanical Publications ...... 6 expand her horizons as a botanist. It was also clear that the demands of The Daturas ...... 7 continued on page 2 1 DIRECTOR’S CORNER (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

Center for Plant Diversity Starbuck, who has worked tirelessly, being both director and curator were often on a volunteer basis, to maintain too great for one person, even a person and improve the information with Ellen’s remarkable energy and technology capabilities of the commitment. Following Ellen’s herbarium, and Jean Shepard, who has departure, it was decided to redefine gone far beyond the call of duty and the administrative structure of the shown tremendous devotion to the herbarium to include both a faculty herbarium by taking on many new director and a curator as a separate responsibilities and working long hours 100% staff position. I agreed to serve as to help keep the facility running director beginning in January of this smoothly and effectively over the last year. A faculty herbarium oversight year. I feel very fortunate to occupy the Ellen Dean, Jean Shepard, and Dan Potter committee was appointed; initial position of director at this time; there members are UCD professors: Michael are certainly challenges ahead but we Barbour, Joe DiTomaso, Judy Jernstedt, initiatives and priorities, which will have a wonderful new facility and an and Andy Walker from the College of include expanding the outreach and excellent group of staff and volunteers Agricultural and Environmental research activities in the herbarium. working together to maintain and build Sciences, and Jim Doyle, Marcel The other major transition that our strengths. I would love to hear any Rejmanek, Tom Rost, and Maureen occurred this past year was a very sad ideas any of you may have about future Stanton from the College of Biological event; the unexpected death of Dr. directions for the Center for Plant Sciences. The director, curator, and Grady Webster last October. Much of Diversity, and I look forward to seeing collections manager (Jean Shepard) of this issue of Lasthenia is devoted to a all of you in the herbarium and/or at the herbarium, as well as the president tribute to Grady as a renowned botanist various DBS events in the coming year. of the Davis Botanical Society, serve as and a wonderful colleague and friend. D. Potter ex officio members of the committee. He is greatly missed. Because Grady Effective July 1, administration of the was so active until the very end of his Conservatory herbarium has been moved to my life, he left behind many unfinished home department, Plant Sciences, in projects. Beginning last winter, Jean Twenty years ago, Michael Barbour, the College of Agricultural and Shepard took the lead in contacting other Botany faculty and staff, Environmental Sciences. many of Grady’s Euphorbiaceae Landscape Architecture classes, and In March, we opened an colleagues throughout the world to ask Conservatory staff and volunteers international search for a new curator; them for assistance in coordinating the transformed a utilitarian parking lot in the search committee included Judy, completion of some of those projects the courtyard of Robbins Hall into an Maureen, Marcel, and me. We received and for help with identification and inviting enclosed garden of unusual many excellent applications for the annotation of herbarium specimens, plants grown to reflect departmental position from highly qualified including many that Grady had on loan research efforts and for material for class candidates throughout the country and from various herbaria. So far, Jean has exercises and tours. The Plant Biology beyond. The other members of the helped arrange and coordinate visits to and Evolution and Ecology departments search committee and I were both Davis by Scott Armbruster, Paul Berry, have now moved their research and delighted and very surprised to find, Lynn Gillespie, Helen Kennedy, Geoff teaching programs to the Sciences among the applications, one from Ellen Levin, Victor Steinmann, Ben Van Ee, Laboratory and Life Sciences Buildings Dean! We were thrilled that, in her and Ken Wurdack. Jean has also and Storer Hall. Ernesto has application and interview, Ellen communicated with several of Grady’s spearheaded extending the botanically expressed great enthusiasm for other collaborators, including Jeremy instructive and attractive plantings to returning to UC Davis on the new Bruhl, Him Henrickson, Klaus Kubitzki, the landscapes around the new terms. Because of her history and and Burford Westlund. Robert Rhode buildings. The spectacular show of the excellent past service here, Ellen and Grady’s daughter Susan have beds planted last year on the southwest emerged as the strongest candidate in a continued their work on a Spanish side of the Science Laboratory Building very strong pool. I am happy to report translation of the Flora of Maquipucuna. was strong motivation for the that Ellen has accepted the position All of these individuals’ efforts will Conservatory volunteers and staff who and returned to the Center for Plant ensure that much of Grady’s unfinished spent several hot summer mornings and very important research is Diversity in this new role in spreading and spading in thirty tons of September. Ellen’s experiences at completed and published. red lava rock in the beds on the east side EDAW, in particular the expertise she I want to take this opportunity to of the Science Laboratory Building. has gained in conducting rare plant thank all of the faculty, staff, students, Look for more major plantings this fall. surveys, will allow her to bring a new and members of the community who Excellent publicity in the and very valuable perspective to the have been so helpful and supportive Sacramento Bee brought over 200 position. Ellen and I have already had during this transitional period, visitors to the Conservatory Open several discussions about exciting new especially two individuals: Tom continued on page 3 2 DIRECTOR’S CORNER (CONT. FROM PAGE 2)

Other facets of the Conservatory In addition to the 2000 UC Davis collection and program besides the students who visit annually on guided carnivorous plants are heavily small group tours of the greenhouse, dependent on non-career staff. In 2005- Conservatory staff serve 1000-2000 06 we had 19 students, 10 interns, and non-university participants, including 19 volunteers. Due to lack of staff time community college classes, plant to teach and supervise, we offered the societies and other interest groups, and formal Conservatory Internship only in many K-12 classes. Each of the spring quarter. The interns worked hundreds of tours requires set-up, hard and learned a lot, with research clean-up, preparation of demonstration topics from “Colchicine-Induced material, and recruiting and training Polyploidy in Carnivorous Plant docents or giving the tours ourselves. Genera” to “Finding the Best Host for We considered reducing or canceling the hemi-parasite Castilleja exserta”. All non-university tours because of the the interns were outstanding and recent loss of most of the student staff New plantings of star of Madeira formed a pool of pre-trained students funding but instead received ( candicans) and tower of with strong motivation and excellent authorization to start charging a $2 per jewels () skills and attitudes from which we participant fee. The funds will cover installed outside the Sciences Laboratory Building by Conserva- selected the two new student staff we enough of the baseline costs to continue tory staff. Photo: Darrell Brandon needed. the public instruction and outreach. House in February. The majority were T. Metcalf first time visitors, from novices to experts, who relished the beauty and SOCIETY PROFILES Deborah Canington diversity of the plants and displays. Contacts led to further tours and an on- Dr. Deborah Canington’s office in the site watercolor workshop, a benefit for Sciences Laboratory Building is a non-profit organization that brings art notable for its two microscopes, both into the lives of local children with compound and dissecting. But that is disabilities. The Picnic Day display only reasonable for a campus hosted ten times as many. visitors. It specialist in plant anatomy and in was so crowded at times, we were again really tiny plants, mosses and their desperately wishing for a facility with allies and algae. The 2006-07 much more space and an efficient Botanical Society president, a traffic flow pattern. Continuing Lecturer in Plant Biology, The Conservatory carnivorous has taught developmental plant plant collection is outstanding because anatomy for nine years and of extraordinary volunteers. In recent introductory phycology and bryology years, John Brittnacher, the seed bank for ten years. In addition, she has Dr. Canington hiking in Yellowstone coordinator for the International taught the introductory plant biology National Park Carnivorous Plant Society and master and ecology course since becoming a hybridizer and grower, has been the faculty member in the Section of Plant Biology in 1989. source of a major increase in diversity. Deborah came to Davis from Southern California as a doctoral student; her And Tom Cahill, who cannot resist dissertation research compared the morphogenesis of the foliar and axillary finding a way to propagate and grow buds of piggyback plant, Tolmeia menziesii. Currently she and Dr. Brenda the “impossible” carnivorous plants, Grewell, an ecologist with the USDA-ARS Invasive Weeds Research Lab, are has been the source of many collaborating on a study of Ludwigia, a wetland plant. Deborah is determining spectacular specimens for instructional chromosome numbers of individuals from different Ludwigia populations use and trading with other collectors. throughout California and is investigating the anatomy of Ludwigia stems at He is responsible for the alluring different stages of development and under different water regimes. Science Laboratory Building A long-time DBS member, Deborah was most recently a Member-at-Large greenhouse display that can be viewed on the Board, where she arranged the highly successful Bryophytes Workshop from the observation window in the in 2005. Her other interests include gardening, reading, hiking in the Sierra hallway outside room 3096. This spring Nevada, traveling, and horseback riding in the mountains of Wyoming, an John retired and moved to Ashland. annual summer treat. And this fall, Tom Cahill is taking a Come meet Deborah Canington in person as she presides at our program faculty position in Arizona. The plants meetings this year—and enjoy the speakers as well! and Conservatory staff will sorely miss K. Mawdsley them. 3 2005/2006 GIFTS REMEMBERING GRADY (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

the Botanical Society of with explanations of Herbarium Building Campaign America (BSA); and the why modern personi- Bill & Jane Fischer Asa Gray Award from fications of liberty Ray & Mary Evert the American Society of wear the Phrygian cap. Frances & Donald Foster Plant Taxonomists Conversations with Judith Jernstedt (ASPT). He served as Grady were inevitably president of BSA, ASPT stimulating and always and the California an education in June McCaskill Memorial Fund Botanical Society. themselves. Lewis Feldman Robert Rhode, I remember a Jack & Ellie Maze former student and crosscountry road trip continuing collaborator that we did in 1986, Herbarium Endowment on the floristic whose ostensible Anonymous checklist of purpose was to get me Grady on a break in Nanegalito, Brenda Grewell & Stephen Kidner and the car to graduate Maquipucuna Reserve, Equador in 1992. Photo: G. F. Hrusa Julie Knorr a cloud forest reserve in school in Massachusetts, Bruce Kennedy & Ecuador, described one of several but which not surprisingly became a field Peggy Kraus-Kennedy University Research Expedition Program trip in the process. I drove and Grady Valerie Layne field trips that Grady led in Ecuador. On kept a journal, as he always did, in Marjorie March this particular trip, a guide led the which he recorded what he considered William McCoy group in the wrong direction and they to be the salient elements of the trip: he Katherine Mawdsley wound up lost—but collected some noted the gas mileage, elevations, place Jack & Ellie Maze names, geological and plant life Barbara & James Monroe beautiful bromeliads. Grady stayed characteristics and, in addition, kept an Rodney & Gina Oswalt indomitably cheerful until staff from the Robert & Laurie Preston reserve came to pick up the group long account of all the music I played on the Michelle McMahon & after dark. tape deck, awarding each song a rating Michael Sanderson Piero Delprete, a past graduate on a 5-star scale. In addition to these Maxine & Herbert Schmalenberger student, fondly recalled several trips he elements, Grady was on the search for Maureen Stanton shared with Grady to Maquipucuna. the perfect root beer float, and we Gail Sullivan “Grady was a walking botanical stopped in every drug store and soda Alan Whittemore encyclopedia. It was just incredible to fountain along the way to sample them, me how he could have accumulated so giving each a rating on a 5-star scale. In In Honor of John Tucker’s Birthday: much information. I have learned from thinking back on this journey, Grady’s Ellen Dean & Thomas Starbuck him an exemplary professional life, approach made it clear that this was not Lewis Feldman human integrity, and appreciation for a trip whose goal was simply to get from Roman Gankin & the beauty and diversity of nature.” one point to another in the most rapid Jobyna Kingsbury-Gankin and efficient manner; rather, it was Mary Major decidedly a process with its own set of Grant & Grace Noda experiential goals that had to be sought Roswita & Robert Norris out, spotted, discovered, enjoyed and Kay & Masako Ryugo recorded. Grady really was an explorer in every sense of the word, and it was In Memory of Grady Webster: this characteristic that made him such a Mitzi Aguirre wonderful teacher and traveling Ellen Dean & Thomas Starbuck companion.” Genevieve Walden Grady Webster’s contributions to systematic and structural botany will be In Memory of June McCaskill: memorialized and perpetuated through Elizabeth Bernhardt & two awards established by Susan and her Tedmund Swiecki Grady examining a marijuana mother, Dr. Barbara Webster, UC Davis Elizabeth Corbin specimen in 1982 Professor emerita. The awards, which Grady’s daughter, Dr. Susan Webster, are named in Grady’s honor by the generously permitted us to include American Society of Plant Taxonomists excerpts from her remarks at the and the Botanical Society of America, Thank you for campus memorial service. “Grady was will recognize annually the best paper someone who could, over coffee, draw published in either the journal your support! you a detailed map of ancient Systematic Botany or the American Mesopotamia on a napkin, describe the Journal of Botany. cultures, mark out the routes of war and K. Mawdsley trade, and link his historical discussion 4 2006 STUDENT GRANTS AWARDED 2005/2006 GIFTS

A record number of applications for boats and is a source of food for support through the Davis Botanical livestock and humans in many Ernest Gifford Cycad Fund/ Society Student Research Grant countries. It also provides important Conservatory Endowment program has yielded a strong panel of wildlife habitat in wetlands. recipients of $1000 awards for 2006. As we congratulate these students, Eleanor Buehler Chris Mallek will use the Jack Major we also look forward to reports from Deborah & Shadrick Canington Memorial Endowment Award to three other recent recipients at the May David Randall continue his study of variation among 2007 DBS program meeting. Look for Susan Conard populations of McNab cypress, the date and details in your DBS Eric Conn Cupressus macnabiana, a Northern calendar. Sonia Cook California foothill endemic. A student K. Mawdsley Nancy & Donald Crosby in the Ecology Graduate Group, Chris is Gerald Dickinson working with Michael Barbour in the Ray & Mary Evert Dept. of Plant Sciences. Herbert Fong From Northern California to Ernest & Jean Gifford Madagascar, Brent J. Sewall will use the Donnette & Daniel Gladish Larry W. and Charlotte Mitich Stacey Harmer & Julin Maloof Memorial Endowment Fund to Terry & Benjamin Henry investigate animal-mediated seed Judith Jernstedt dispersal ecology and the conservation Anton Krofranek of tropical forests. Brent’s emphasis will Donald & Yoshie Kyhos be on the foraging behavior of Norma Lang frugivores (fruit-eating animals). Also Susan Larson in the Ecology Graduate Group, Brent’s Jeanette & Jonathan Lewis advisor is Dirk Van Vuren in the Dept. Joseph & Emma Lin of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Mary Major Biology. Katherine Mawdsley On September 14, 2005, DBS The E. Eric Grissell Award recipient Debbie Maynard supporter Charlotte Mitich passed is Heather Carpenter of the Plant Bruce Beicke away. We miss Charlotte’s enthusiasm Biology Graduate Group. Her project, and kindness. In addition to living on Jack & Ellie Maze Caballitos and totora: Investigation of in each of our hearts, Charlotte will Jocelyn & James Morris the giant sedge Schoenoplectus be remembered each spring when we Robert and Roswita Norris californicus, is directed by Eliska award the Larry W. and Charlotte James & Nancy Pollock Rejmankova of the Dept. of Mitich Memorial Student Grant. Dan & Marcia Purcifull Environmental Science and Policy. Charlotte is pictured here in 2004 Calvin & Kathleen Qualset Totora (Schoenoplectus californicus) is (with Shad Canington and Roman James & Elizabeth Quick used in the construction of housing and Gankin). Lawrence & Norma Rappaport Richard & Alice Riding ENDOWMENTS RECEIVE GIFTS Alison & Eric Roberts Warren Roberts In March 2006, Davis Botanical Roy Sachs Society charter member Eric Penelope Knapp Conn donated $20,000 to the Botanical Conservatory Robert Snider Endowment. The Conservatory Alan & Elisabeth Stemler Endowment was established in Ivan & Harriet Thomason 2004 to provide yearly income Joe & Nema Traynor to support the Conservatory’s John Tucker living collections, outdoor Shirley & Kenneth Tucker plantings, exhibits, and Glenn Turner From left to right: Dean Ken Burtis, Ernesto teaching programs. Dr. Conn’s Larry & Rosalie Vanderhoef Sandoval, Eric Conn, and Tim Metcalf contribution increased the Dennis & Harriet Walker endowment to a financially Marilyn & John Wilson viable level so that it can now provide meaningful yearly income to the Kathi & David Wilson Conservatory. Dr. Conn, Professor Emeritus of the College of Biological Sciences, also provided a generous gift to the Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium endowment in 2004. Many other Davis Botanical Society members gave to the Herbarium and Conservatory endowments in 2005 and 2006 (see side bars on pages five and six). We are grateful for this ongoing support which helps us build Thank you for our endowments and increases the annual income that we receive from them. We thank all our members for their generous and forward-thinking contributions and your support! encourage others who believe in the importance of the Conservatory and Herbarium at UC Davis to think about endowment contributions in 2006 or 2007. 5 2005/2006 GIFTS YOLO COUNTY BOOKSHELVES

NOTABLE BOTANICAL PUBLICATIONS BY Conservatory Operations BOTANICAL SOCIETY MEMBERS Anonymous Carole Ludlum In an issue of Lasthenia deeply imbued Eugene Dammel with Grady Webster’s spirit and John Tucker abiding influence, it is not inappropriate to revive an occasional Herbarium Operations feature from the early years of the Nancy and Donald Crosby newsletter he founded and originally John Tucker edited—a report on notable botanical activities of people associated with UC Davis Botanical Society Davis or DBS. Student Grant Fund Shirley C. Tucker, UC Davis E. Eric Grissell Botany Ph.D. and DBS life member, is Daniel Potter lead author of the Revised Catalog of Larry & Charlotte Mitich Lichens, Lichenicoles, and Allied Fungi Memorial Student Grant in California. The Catalog was Fund published in March 2006 as number 84 in the Constancea series of the In memory of Charlotte Mitich: University and Jepson Herbaria at UC Scouring Rush (Equisetum), Ellen Dean & Thomas Starbuck Berkeley. It is available as a printable drawn by Leslie Randall Layne Huiet file or a searchable database at Marjorie March ucjeps.berkeley.edu/constancea/84/ Katherine Mawdsley index.html. As noted in the abstract, Cornell and a Master’s Degree in natural Estate of Charlotte Mitich the catalog reports 1,575 taxa, an science from LSU. Among her notable James and Catherine Murray increase of about 580 since the 1979 projects have been the graminoids for Jean & Scott Shepard catalog. A separate printable file lists the Yosemite Flora, euphorbs and grasses 854 publications pertaining to for the first edition of The Jepson Manual, Jack Major Memorial California lichens. and most recently oaks for John Tucker’s Student Grant Fund Barry Rice, former president of treatment of that genus for the second Helen Carpenter DBS and Conservatory volunteer, is edition. She is also currently a Staff Eric Conn the author of Growing Carnivorous Research Associate in the Arnold Bloom Tena Farr Plants. Published by Timber Press in lab at UC Davis. Brenda Grewell & Stephen Kidner Sept. 2006, the book contains 400 And finally, at least for this issue, Ann F. Johnson color photos. The pre-publication Rob Preston, UC Davis Botany Ph.D., Franz & Bernette Kegel announcement notes Barry’s activity as charter DBS member and donor of Mary C. Major editor of Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, hundreds of splendid herbarium Louise Jackson & Patrick the publication of the International specimens resulting from personal trips McGuire Carnivorous Plant Society and as its or his professional consulting duties, Stephen & Jill Rae Director of Conservation Programs. published two articles this year reporting Marcel Rejmanek We in Davis know him as an Invasive his taxonomic revision of several & Eliska Rejmankova Species Specialist in the Global of Northern California Brodiaea. “A Pat Williams Invasive Plant Initiative of The Nature Reconsideration of Brodiaea Minor Mary Hektner Conservancy, located in Robbins Hall. (Benth.) S. Watson and Brodiaea purdyi Specimens from the Crampton Gifts of Books Eastwood (Themidaceae), with the Collection in the Center for Plant resurrection of Brodiaea nana Hoover” Ken Fuller Diversity were the basis of botanical appeared in Madrono, 53:1. It analyzes Katherine Mawdsley illustrations for which Lesley Randall Robert Pearcy and resolves previous confusion in was presented a Highly Commended Wes Youngclaus applying names to a group of small- Award at the 2006 Margaret Flockton flowered Brodiaea species. “Brodiaea Award Exhibition sponsored by the sierrae (Themidaceae), a new species from Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, New the Sierra Nevada foothills of California, South Wales, Australia. The U.S.A.” publishes a new species endemic Thank you for competition recognizes excellence in to the Sierra Nevada foothills of Butte, scientific botanical illustration and is Yuba and Nevada Counties (Novon 16: your support! the only prize to recognize this work, 254). We are pleased that the holotype as opposed to botanical art. Lesley for the new species is located at DAV. Randall, a free-lance botanical News of similar activity by DBS illustrator, received her Bachelor’s members is welcomed for future issues. Degree in landscape architecture from K. Mawdsley 6 THE DATURAS: FAMILIAR TOXIC PLANTS by D. Crosby the response, and although the substances were popular hallucinogens On their way to quell a 1675 uprising in the 1960s, repeated use causes at the Virginia Colony’s Jamestown, detachment from reality—the Zombie or British soldiers ate roadside “greens” “living corpse” of the Haitians. and became the first white people ever The more familiar tolguacha, Datura to be felled by “the Jamestown Weede” wrightii (formerly D. meteloides), occurs (that is, Jimsonweed). A coarse, 2- to from California to Arizona and on into 3-foot annual, this thornapple (Datura Mexico. Broader than those of stramonium) has 5-inch, ill-smelling Jimsonweed, its gray-green, smooth- leaves—dark green and deeply edged leaves are over 8 inches long, its notched—and produces trumpet- 5- to 9-inch trumpet-like flowers 10- shaped white flowers that are upright, rather than 5-pointed, and the fruit 4-inches wide, and often have a drooping instead of standing erect. purplish center. They are followed by However, the alkaloids and effects are erect, egg-shaped, spiny fruit in the leaf the same as before, and children have axils. While sometimes seen in the been poisoned by sucking the stem-end of a single flower. Desert thornapple, Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) Datura discolor, is a Southwest annual, and other species are even adapted to flower gardens. Most human poisonings are due to an Tree-sized daturas, called “angel’s accidental overdose during a youthful trumpet,” are now classified as escapade, but “bad trips” have now Brugmansia, but all of them are made angel’s trumpet infamous—a dangerous. They can reach a height of magical, evil plant—and only its beauty over 30 feet, with 6- to 12-inch, saves it from eradication. The 2002 alternate oval leaves. An outstanding book Brugmansia and Datura warns: feature is their pendulous, foot-long, “All parts [of the plants] contain horn-shaped flowers: white, yellow, dangerous levels of poison and may be orange, red, or pink. Frost-hardy or not, fatal if ingested by humans or animals depending on species, they may grow 10 [and] some municipalities prohibit the feet within a few spring weeks. White purchase, sale, or cultivation of either flowers generally say B. candida or B. or both…” The fruit of many Datura species is a sauveolens, while red flowers mean B. Daturas and Brugmansias clearly spiny capsule sanguinea. The 12-foot B. versicolor var. are plants to be enjoyed from a ‘Charles Grimaldi’ with peach-colored distance. West, this Datura occurs mainly in our flowers that grows on a corner near East and Midwest. Putah Creek Lodge is a typical hybrid. Dr. Crosby is author of The Poisoned Jimsonweed is indigenous to North Plants raised indoors are smaller but still Weed: Plants Toxic to Skin (Oxford America, and when the Europeans colorful—and equally deadly. Press, 2004). He will be our speaker on arrived, it was already in use by Native Spanish explorers in South America March 8, 2007 at the Davis Public Americans to produce “visions.” Its reported that Indians used the plant to Library. effects are felt within minutes after induce dreams, despite unpleasant and drinking tea made from it, or a few even terrifying side-effects. German hours after eating leaves or seeds— explorer von Tschudi described the intense thirst, blurred eyesight, and a results of drinking Tonga, a tea made Book Reviewer Needed: pulse rapid and weak. Victims become from B. sanguinea: “[The native’s] eyes Among the manifold reasons we delirious and nonsensical, plucking at were dry but had become bright red and miss Grady Webster is his regular large multicolored insects they imagine rolled about wildly…A thick white foam column in Lasthenia, Yolo County to be crawling on their skin or flying leaked out between his half-open lips; Bookshelves. There he reviewed one past. They may turn violent, the pulses on his forehead and throat or more recent books of botanical convulsive, or comatose. Even a mild were beating too fast to count; his interest. Plant people tend to be case may last several days, and chewing breathing was short and fast and did not book people, readers and often buyers. Is there a reader, or perhaps just a few of the seeds can kill a child. seem to lift his chest… Sticky sweat more than one, who would share a The poisons are alkaloids: atropine covered his whole body, which was report on recent publications likely (the stuff eye-doctors drop into your shaken by the most dreadful to be of interest to other Lasthenia eyes to dilate the pupils) and convulsions.” The man later said he had recipients? Please contact Kate scopolamine (the “truth serum” of been visiting his ancestors. Mawdsley detective stories that opens one’s will Brugmansia toxicity is like that of ([email protected]) if this to the suggestions of others). The Datura, but alkaloid levels are higher; opportunity is of interest. alkaloid level in each plant determines the leaves and seeds are equally potent. 7